Happy Vixen Club Wrecked, Purrfection Estates Sim Affected, By Linden Lab Glitch

 

 Addition: See below

 

 

 On Tuesday March 7, the staff of the Happy Vixen Beach Club in the Purrfection Estates sim got a nasty shock when following the scheduled rolling restart of the sims by Linden Lab, those dropping by found the venue gone. 

THV is GONE
trapped in inventories, so it may take a complete rebuild

Most of the structure was gone, the dance floor, the seats, the stream and contest boards, the games, the movie theater, the calendar boards, and more, gone. While some of the objects were located in "lost and found" inventories, some items, notably some no-copy ones, have yet to be found. And even if they all were, the incident represents a loss of many hours of work. 

The beach club was not the only item affected in the sim. There are reports of other items and structure parts lost in the glitch. One resident told me her skybox home was also "gone."

Sim owner Nydia Tungsten filed a ticket with Linden Lab, hoping they'll be able to roll back the sim on their own to clean up the mess. While residents can always request rollbacks, lately they've been charging a $25 fee to do so. Considering the Linden rollback was the cause of the glitch, it was commented that in this case it would be like paying someone to clean up a mess they were responsible for.

For now, Happy Vixen events have been moved to the Bouncing Bunny Beach Club in SunWater Three. 

 

Addition:  I've had a couple people tell me that the reason for the glitch was not the rollback, but something else. So stay tuned for an update.

Bixyl Shuftan

Mieville Leader Perryn Peterson Missing, Presumed Gone

 

 

In a sad development for the Mieville community, it's leader and mayor, Perryn Peterson, has been declared missing and presumed dead. In a group bulletin last night, assistant mayor Wyvvy (Wyvern Dryke) had this to say:

I know many of you are still hoping Perryn returns, and to you I say, don't give up hope.

As for me, I have resigned myself to the fact that he is (almost certainly) not coming back.  The Tinies offered me a little, temporary Memorial spot for Dia de los Muertos, so I built Perryn a bitty memorial.

Please come see it, remember Perryn... smile... wish for his return or say goodbye.  Or both!

In the group chatter that followed, it was noted, "He's not even listed in the Mieville group," and "He's not in the search however." "I think we should assume the worst." Wyvvy, when asked how long Perryn was gone, told, "He went to the hospital in mid-March. (then) only logged in maybe five times, for a few minutes. Then disappeared completely June 16. ... We just kept on keepin' on."

This hasn't been the first time Perryn has vanished. In February 2020, his not having logged on since going to the hospital in December 2021 was causing some worry as there was the threat of the Mieville community sims closing due to lack of payment. But he soon returned. Afterwards, measures were put into place so the sims wouldn't be in danger if there was another time he couldn't log on. It would seem that time has arrived.

Perryn's memorial is at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cathedral/129/25/72

Bixyl Shuftan

Stagg Island 9/11 Memorial Offline

As Second Life gets ready to remember those who perished in the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Arlington Virginia (and Pennsylvania), one of the most detailed memorials to them in Second Life has apparently vanished. The Stagg Island memorial is no longer online.

The memorial, part of the Stagg Island sim, was made by Geena Zackerly-Magic (Geena Zackerly) and Fazz (Fazio Magic. The names of those murdered were carved into a wall of stone, and the floor had two square holes of which water flowed down the side, and when viewed at Midnight beams of light went up, representing the Trade Center's twin towers. To the side, there were a number of national flags, representing those countries which had lost people in the attack. On September 11, there were ceremonies held to honor those who were killed, with recordings of news broadcasts and releasing of lanterns into the sky.

Over the years, there have been a number of memorials built to remember those who fell, from the large structure built in the dAlliez Land Headquarters sim, to Cheri Bing's New York City Block's World Trade Center memorial, and a number of others. There are still smaller memorials, such as the skybox one at Tenerife (118/143/1343, and the one at Sacred Ground at Urban Style (36/105/1695). But the loss of the Stagg Island memorial means the loss of one of the largest and most detailed, certainly the largest and most detailed in recent years.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Petrovsky Flux Is Gone

In 2013, the Newser reported on an LEA exhibit called the Bogon Flux, described as, "a scrap-metal steampunk structure that defies gravity." Enterable from the bottom, the structure was a series of hollow metalic-looking tubes that connected to junctions that led to other tubes, windows, and occasionally a fishtank or metallic hand. The structure was not static, but would slowly build itself up to resembling a huge metallic tree, and every so often would collapse and the process of building would start all over again.

Created by Blotto Epsilon, later he and Cutea Benelli would create an even greater build: the Petrovsky Flux. "There are five independent structures that grow among each other, each with different boundaries." He would tell Hamlet Au in a New World Notes article, "the highest goes up to about 350 meters, I think." The build was hosted by the Spencer Art Museum sim, which is owned by the gallery of the same name in the real life University of Kansas.

But unfortunately, the build is no longer up. It seems after years of funding the sim, the University made the decision to stop paying for it, and eventually the sim faded away. Cutea Benelli made the announcement on Facebook, "After five years the Spencer Museum of Art could no longer host the Petrovsky Flux, alas. We were arrears in paying tier and the plug was yanked."



A sad development for interactive art lovers. Perhaps the structure will find a new home, or Linden Lab would be willing to host it. until then, it can be seen only in pictures or videos such as the one made by the Spencer Art Museum itself, or a particularly good one by Toxic Menges.

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Why Do Some People Just Disappear From Second Life?

As we go about our Second Lives, we gain friends. But over time, some of them drop out. Sometimes they'll tell you they're leaving. Other times, they just simply vanish, with no clue as to why. Did they have some kind of long-lasting financial or health misfortune, or worse? With partnerships, it's even worse. The person you've invested so much time and heart with has suddenly vanished, and you can't imagine anything but something going very wrong. But maybe the reason is something else entirely. Mylie Foxclaw takes a look into the issue as to why some residents just drop out of Second Life.

Read Mylie's story in People.

NOAA Island Is Gone

With Hurricane Mathew in the news, I thought about a sim that was aimed at teaching residents about the weather: NOAA Island, sometimes called Weather Island, at the Meteora sim. But taking a look, I found that the location was not on the map. A search revealed it wasn't just located, but nowhere on the map. Nor was it on the Destinations Guide.

NOAA Island has apparently vanished, probably some time ago. Checking the Youtube about it, the place was still around three years ago at least, though some exhibits were no longer working, possibly due to Linden Lab software updates.

NOAA Island had been set up by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration US government agency in 2007 during the heyday of Second Life as a way to help educate people about the weather. The place was part of the collection of sims known as the "Sci-Lands." Second Life Newspaper, and then Second Life Newser reported about the place in March 2008 and August 2011. At the later date, the sim had some neighbors such as NOAA Island 2 and Second Earth, a gigantic interactive globe. There was much to see in the sim, such as a tidal wave simulation, which had been the target of humor at least once, an interactive weather map, and a hurricane hunter airplane ride.

The sim was the scene of some activity in April 2012 in which people from the US Government were likely involved, along with the Raytheon corporation, with some project, but there is no information about any involvement since.

Most of us would agree the US Government would have better use for it's money than a sim (though could probably recall it being used for things much less useful), but it's still sad to see the place go.

Bixyl Shuftan.



(click here if the video fails to play)

Pearl Harbor Memorial Offline

This Memorial Day, while there are a number of places to visit to reflect on those whom died in service to the American military, the USS Arizona Memorial is not among them. The Oahu sim where it was located was offline, and while it's still listed in Search, recent traffic registers as zero. The sim has been taken offline. Unless the sim owner can bring the place back online, it seems the memorial to the famous battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor joins the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which went offline sometime in 2011, among those noted places in Second Life now visible only through past records.

The USS Arizona Memorial, a replica of the real-life memorial in Honolulu Hawaii, has been in Second Life for several years. On December 7, 2011, there was a memorial service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Japanese Empire's attack, which resulted in America's entry into the Second World War. The remainder of the sim was a Pacific island themed residential area in which visitors were free to relax on the beach.

Second Life Newspaper's Website Offline

Since Second Life Newspaper closed it's doors, the website and it's archived stories, at least the Main and People sections, remained up as a record of people places and events in Second Life's middle years. At least it did until now. Checking the website this week, only the front page remained. The rest of the newsletter was down.

After three and a half years, almost as long as it was active, the old newspaper had finally vanished from the scene.

But all is not completely lost. Using the Internet Archive website (https://archive.org/web/), also known as the "Wayback Machine," one can still get a look at copies of the pages (link). It seems only the Main and People Sections still work, though. Other sections such as Red Light and M.A.C.E. are still gone.

Second Life Newspaper officially began as a blog in November 2007 by JamesT Juno, and within a year had emerged as Second Life's top newspaper with several sections. Dana Vanmoer was the editor for most of it's history. Real life difficulties would eventually force James and Dana to leave Second Life and close Second Life Newspaper. Most of the staff would form Second Life Newser, which continues to write to this day.

Bixyl Shuftan

Lost Second Life

Becky Shamen's alt, Joshu Xavier, has lately been doing the exploring for her. When hearing about an art exhibit on places in Second Life that have vanished, the "Lost Second Life" exhibition, he went to check it out. Itself located in a dried up sea floor in an abandoned looking building, the building provided a haunting reminder of what has vanished from the virtual world.

Read Becky/Joshua's article in Design.